


Second Wind

by palomino333



Category: Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Thomas the Tank Engine - All Media Types
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 17:52:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19480987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palomino333/pseuds/palomino333
Summary: Discarded AU idea.  A fatal accident for James causes Edward to resort to extraordinary means to save him.





	Second Wind

The wreck was horrific, with James’s engine lying off the tracks. Edward’s engine had been the closest in the area, and without any cargo, on its way back to Tidmouth Sheds for the night. Initially, Edward was furious with James for being so reckless. He’d instructed him before on the fact that he needed to be careful with his speed; even with the brakes replaced, it was still dangerous, especially under rainy conditions.

Upon hearing James’s terrified voice over the radio shortly before the crash, however, he couldn’t remain angry. Fear for his lover seized him, any comforts he could offer to him cut short as the radio cut off with a metallic crash.

Edward felt as if his legs couldn’t propel him quickly enough to the engine’s cab, his fireman directly behind him.

James’s fireman was lost, his head bashed open from hitting the tender. Edward removed his livery coat to place over him, while his own fireman Charlie knelt before him to pay his respects.

Sprawled over top of the brake, James looked horrific. His uniform was in tatters, and deep gashes were on his torso, right cheek, and left hip. Burns covered his arms. He hung like a broken doll. Edward’s heart sank at the sight. Lifting James’s right wrist, he felt for a pulse, gripping harder and harder when nothing answered.

His fireman put his hand on his back. “Ed, I’m sorry.”

Edward shook him off. “Quiet!”

His fireman backed slowly up, and Edward turned in embarrassment to look at him. “Charlie, forgive me, I didn’t mean it.”

“I understand.”

A faint beat whispered against Edward’s palm, and he glanced sharply down, his breath catching. Swinging his gaze back up, he exclaimed, “Notify the signalman! Hurry!”

Charlie nodded, turning to sprint off.

“Don’t die on me,” he whispered as he carried James over to the cab of his engine, “Please.”

He lay James down on the footplate and lowered his head. “You can’t play God,” Rheneas had previously instructed Edward, “That’s what caused each of us to be bitten. Humans suffer and die, as we would have, had we been left to our own devices.”

Edward was silent at that, and Rheneas put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re young, Edward, at least compared to Skarloey and me. You’re still affectionate towards humans.”

“I don’t want to become indifferent,” he replied.

“I understand, but you won’t remain alive for long if you act that way, child,” Rheneas explained gently, patting his shoulder before letting go, “You were brave to escape your creator. You wanted to live. You must remember that.”

The problem was that Edward had already gotten too close to James at that point. Silly human, didn’t he have any idea who or what’s attention he had attracted? But he couldn’t blame him, as it was his own fault. It went beyond any physical beauty. James’s confidence was radiant to him, as was his ambition. He was an utterly flawed man, in his vanity, but he had a sense of adventure to him, and a willingness to admit his faults. Edward felt content with him, as if for a moment, he could act human, once more. But the reality of it sometimes set in during the more innocuous moments.

“Having trouble sleeping?” James asked, trailing a hand over Edward’s shoulder in bed.

Edward, facing away from him, stared at the clock, its face frustratingly displaying one in the morning. He mumbled, “Yes.”

James’s fingers slipped through Edward’s black hair, brushing its strands. “Same here.”

Smirking at his out, Edward turned over to grasp James’s wrist. “Shall we remedy that, then?”

Edward bit the inside of his cheek with indecision and closed his eyes. In his mind’s eye, he saw the tombstone engraved with James’s first and last name and felt regret over it. 

Edward opened his eyes and raised his beloved’s limp body on his knee. Opening wide, he lowered his head toward the vein in James’s neck.

He hadn’t tasted James’s blood before and would have wanted to savor the rich taste otherwise. There had been other times when he had been tempted, previously, to bite him. There had been the instance when James had cut himself on a tool from the toolbox. Edward had helpfully volunteered to get the first aid kit, which took him further from the enticing scent. While fooling around, the throbbing vein on James’s neck drew his attention more than once, and he forced himself to kiss anywhere but there.

“Forgive me,” he whispered against James’s neck, kissing it once before drawing back. Laying James against him, he waited quietly for him to awaken. He stroked his lover’s black hair, which was crusted with blood. Humans were such fragile creatures.

Skarloey wasn’t going to be happy with him. Sodor was his territory, and he liked keeping it that way, with Rheneas safely alongside him. Edward’s truce with the older vampire remained tentative, in that he meant no harm, being a vagrant without a brood. “Sodor isn’t an area for broods,” Skarloey had explained to him, “Too few people to sustain. Two of us are enough. Three is pushing.”

“I will be discreet,” Edward replied, “I seek only to live in peace.” He hadn’t wanted to talk to Skarloey about the sire he’d escaped from, decades prior. His creator had had plans for him that, from time to time, had given him a chill in retrospect. 

But for the moment, he didn’t give much thought to it as he held him. James was breathing, and that was a fragment of happiness he could claim for the moment, as James’s wounds quickly healed themselves, deep cuts sealing themselves, and burns fading. He didn’t care if he had to leave Sodor now – he would be willing to go to the ends of the earth to keep James alive.

James woke with a start, gasping and coughing. He cried out his fireman’s name and glanced about. His eyes fell on his engine, and he exclaimed at the damage, struggling against the pair of arms that held him fast.

“Shh, it’s me,” Edward comforted.

James relaxed against him and lowered his eyes. “Ed, what happened?”

“After your engine wrecked, my fireman and I managed to find you. He has gone to the nearest signal box for help.”

“What about my fireman?” James asked, turning about, “Where’s—why is there blood on your mouth?”

Edward let go of him, and James backed up. Edward knew attempting to wipe the dried blood stain was pointless. “James, I’m sorry, he didn’t make it.” He shook his head. “Had I not intervened, you wouldn’t have made it, either. You were,” he swallowed, and continued, “so close to death.”

James glanced down at himself, and didn’t notice any injuries, save for dried blood and charred fabric. “But I’m fine.”

“You were far worse before I bit you.”

James shook his head, gnashing his teeth at Edward’s lack of sensitivity. “Don’t bloody joke with me, Edward. It isn’t funny!”

Edward sighed, and slowly grinned at him, stretching his jaw wide. James gasped as he saw two pointed canines, thinner and sharper than was typical for a human being, in his lover’s mouth. Kicking against the metal floor, he slipped a few steps away from him. It had to be a nightmare. Vampires weren’t real, and to imagine kindly Edward as one of those things disturbed James. Placing a hand to his neck, he stopped dead as he felt something wet on his palm.

“You turned me into a monster!” James lowered his hand, and stared at the blood before glancing up, asking in a strained tone of voice, “How could you do this to me?”

“I couldn’t lose you!” Edward exclaimed, and James’s eyes widened. He lowered his head, running his hands over James’s shredded uniform jacket.

James glanced down at Edward’s hands as they moved over him. Quietly, he whispered, “Please, don’t.” He felt tired, and genuinely afraid that Edward had the capability then and there to take advantage of him.

Edward shook his head. “I won’t. Oh, James,” he brushed his hands over the other man’s hair once more, and James wasn’t sure whether he should try to run, or even if he could, for as exhausted as he was. Edward’s breath caught, and he said, “I am so, so sorry.”

“I’m tired,” James whispered, and Edward nodded. The younger man shut his eyes against the tears that were building in them and fell down his cheeks.

And there was Edward as usual, kneeling right beside him, wiping at his tears, and begging his forgiveness for what he had done. He hated him for it. He hated himself for the accident, and the death of his fireman.

And he hated the fact that he still loved Edward despite what he had done.

“Please, Edward,” he whispered, “help me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Holy plot contrivance, Batman! 
> 
> So I’m still working on “Clouded Mirror,” but I thought I would put this up for fun. This was an aborted vampire AU I had thought of for TTTE, as I had no idea where to take the plot. Plus having a character named Edward be a vampire would be too unfortunate, in this day and age. 
> 
> Edward is physically younger in this, hence his hair is black. The engines are still humanized as drivers.


End file.
